50 Amp Range Cord

J

Jimmy7

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
Occupation
Electrician
I noticed a 50 amp range cord package states it has 2-#6 and 2 -#8. I’m guessing the two #8 will be the neutral and the ground. Is this because the neutral will only carry the unbalanced load?
 

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Jimmy7 said:
I noticed a 50 amp range cord package states it has 2-#6 and 2 -#8. I’m guessing the two #8 will be the neutral and the ground. Is this because the neutral will only carry the unbalanced load?
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Yes. I will pull a reduced neutral for a range or dryer when the wiring method is conduit - although I thought it wasn't technically allowed to reduce the neutral in a branch circuit?
 
infinity said:
The neutral load on a range is pretty low so it will never carry much current.
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reality for most of them is a 14 AWG neutral would never be overloaded.

If it weren't for 120 volt lamp in the oven maybe they would never even had a need for a neutral to begin with? They also used 120 volts for clocks and controls and often still do but certainly could have gone with 208-240 rated ones.
 
kwired said:
reality for most of them is a 14 AWG neutral would never be overloaded.

If it weren't for 120 volt lamp in the oven maybe they would never even had a need for a neutral to begin with? They also used 120 volts for clocks and controls and often still do but certainly could have gone with 208-240 rated ones.
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I have said this before, but this neutral thing drives me more and more crazy. I'd like to see the pile of copper wasted to supply oversized neutrals , or neutrals at all for that matter when a thing could easily be designed to not need it at all. My main client has a lot of 10 KW autoclaves, three phase 5 wire, neutral for the pilot light 🤬🤬
 
I thought I posted this. It is allowed if the range is 8 3/4 kw or more

Exception No. 2:
The neutral conductor of a 3-wire branch circuit supplying a household electric range, a wall-mounted oven, or a counter-mounted cooking unit shall be permitted to be smaller than the ungrounded conductors where the maximum demand of a range of 83⁄4 kW or more rating has been calculated according to Column C of Table 220.55, but such conductor shall have an ampacity of not less than 70 percent of the branch-circuit rating and shall not be smaller than 10 AWG.
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Dennis Alwon said:
That is a surprise to me. Do you know this for a fact?
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I can't take you to a specific model, but we were having this argument for the umpteenth time 6 months to a year ago and somebody pointed out that oven elements of some models will use L-N for more consistent low heat sometimes. 1/2 the current 1/4 the power and all that

Stovetop elements used to do this but they are obvious to see when they do, they have 4 ends instead of 2 and pushbuttons instead of a knob, probably from our grandparents' era by now.
 
Here’s the schematic on one, most of the newer ones probably use infinite electronic controls, and like new dryers, probably don’t even need a neutral anymore.
 

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